Concrete blocks may bring to mind grad-student shelving, but we like them as ad-hoc table bases.

Above: High-end designer and antiques dealer Axel Vervoordt created an informal coffee table with concrete blocks and a slab of wood in this Belgian interior.

Above: A concrete block bedside table, via Inside Inside.

Above: A simple outdoor table by midcentury architect Marcel Breuer made from a rectangular slab of stone propped on a base of mortared concrete blocks; via The Improvised LIfe.

Above: My coffee table in Mill Valley, made from a walnut drafting-table top and four concrete blocks.

Above: A coffee table made from eight stacked concrete blocks; photo via Kikette.